Reporter and January 6 defendant Steve Baker entered a guilty plea on Tuesday, which his attorney explained acknowledged the state has enough evidence to convict him without admitting to the specifics of the prosecutors’ claims, in what he said in a press conference was a move to avoid the “shaming exercise of a trial.”
Then working as an independent journalist, Baker was inside restricted parts of the U.S. Capitol complex on January 6, 2021. Three years after the protest, he was charged by the Biden-Harris Department of Justice for attempting to obstruct Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s victory with his presence.
His decision to enter the guilty plea came shortly after U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper denied Baker’s request to delay the trial in the aftermath of the decisive victory achieved by President-elect Donald Trump.
“I made the decision specifically to avoid the shaming exercise of a trial. I’ve watched enough of these trials to know that that’s exactly what these are,” said Baker during his press conference after the judge accepted his plea.
Asked about whether he expected to receive a pardon from President-elect Donald Trump, who is reportedly planning to pardon thousands of January 6 defendants on his first day back in the White House, Baker expressed confidence.
Baker told reporters, “If there are going to be pardons, if this campaign promise is kept, then I am very confident.”
BREAKING🚨
Blaze Journalist @TPC4USA speaks after pleading guilty in his J6 case: "I made the decision specifically to avoid the shaming exercise of a trial. I've watched enough of these trials to know that that's exactly what these are." pic.twitter.com/lDOXgxxOeQ
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) November 12, 2024
He also explained that he determined to enter an Alford plea and avoid the trial after his pretrial hearing last week, held one day after Trump secured an electoral victory and popular vote mandate over Vice President Kamala Harris.
“I realized right then and there that the court’s inflexibility was going to persist into the trial and that’s when I informed my attorneys I’m not doing it,” said Baker.
Now working as a contributor for The Blaze, Baker surrendered to accept his charges from the federal government in March, when he called the case a “clear abuse of power,” and noted he was first contacted by federal authorities about their investigation in 2021.
Prior to entering his plea, Baker told Sara Gonzales of The Blaze his case is an example of the government’s “selective” prosecution of conservative reporters who were at the Capitol on January 6.
“What the government has done is selectively decided to prosecute a very small handful of journalists, and guess what our political leanings are? A little bit to the right of center.” Baker told Gonzales, “That’s the only ones who have been charged, and they ignored it.”
Baker expanded on his remarks during his Tuesday press conference, when he noted there were at least 80 other reporters at the protest who were not charged.
He told the reporters, “By our count, somewhere between 80 and 90 credentialed journalists, bloggers, social media influencers, podcasters, stringers, freelancers of all types entered that restricted space that day. Yet there’s only been three or four of us who have been tried, charged, convicted, or plead guilty, and every one of us, our voice is on the right side of the political ledger.”
The reporter is scheduled to be sentenced on March 6, less than two months after Trump is scheduled to be inaugurated as the next president. Trump said in July he will “absolutely” pardon January 6 defendants.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Image “Steve Baker” by The Blaze.
